Bottle packing machine



w. D. KIMBALL r AL 2,219,827

BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1937 15 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 29,1940.

ATTORNEYS Oct 29, 1940- w. o. KIMBALL ET AL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE l5Sheets- Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 3, 1.937

Oct. 29, 1940.

w. KIMBALL El AL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE 15 Sheets-Sheet 3.

Filed Dec. 3, 1937 ATTORNEYS Oct 2 1940- w. D. KIMBALL El AL 2,219,827

BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1937 15 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTQRS'Walla e fl/fima/Z fomeZwsj Bran-en Wm... W, m; a M

. ATTORNEYS Get. 29, 1940. w. n. KIMBALL ET AL BQTTLE PACKING MACHINEFiled Dec. 3, 1937 15 Sheets-Sheet INVENTORS lyailaqe 27. ffz'maZZCo'rneZzus Z rareza M,ML KZ MQEM ATTORNEYS 29, 1940. w. D. KIMBALL E1 AL2 219,821

BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1937 15 Sheets-Sheet 6 fl a/Zace DCarmel: BY

Oct. 29, 1940. w. D. KIMBALL ET AL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3,1957 15 Sheets-Sheet 7 I v I IIQZZQ gornelz'us ATTO RN EY5 INVEVTOR cejIf/MZQZZ Z Bra 702 KW M,

w. D. KIMBALL. ET AL 2,219,827

BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE I Filed Dec. 3, 1937 15 Sheets-Sheet 8 INVENTORSWed/ape 2. Kima/Z CorzeZz as Bra ran ATTORNEYS Oct. 29, 1940.

W. D. KIMBALL ET AL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1937 15Sheets-Sheet 9 INVENTQRS 022a as E /f2mbaZZ oz neZzz/sl Bra 7e22,

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ATTORNEYS Oct. 29, 1940- w. D. KIMBALL ET AL 2,219,327

BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1937 15 Sheets-Sheet 10 \NVENT R5/4 0//ace ,2. X2275 a]! gg rzglzz/s jf Brazen 7745/7? ATTORNEYS Oct. 29.1940- w. b. KIMBALL ET AL I 2,219,827

BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1957 15 Sheets-Sheet 11 INVENTORSWallaqefl/f/mba]! CoyvelwsZBramn ATTORNEY5 l5 Shee1 ;sSheet 13 Oct. 29,1 w. D. KIMBALL ET AL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1937 Get. 29,1940.

w. D. KIMBALL ET AL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1957 15Sheets-Sheet l4 ww g V a? 0d 29, 1940- w. D. KIMBALL ETAL 2,219,327

BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1937 15 Sheets-Sheet l5 ATTORNEYSPatented Oct. 29, 1940 UNITED, STATES 2,219,827 BOTTLE PACKING MACHINEWallace D. Kimball, Cornelius I. Braren, Standard-Knapp City,

Jackson Heights, and

Jamaica, N. Y., assignors to Corporation, Long Island N. Y., acorporation of New York Application December 3, 1937, Serial No. 177,883

38' Claims.

This invention relates to machines for packing bottles in cases forshipping or storage, the cases comprising cartons, or boxes, made ofcorrugated board, fibreboard, wood, or other suitable material. Moreparticularly, our invention relates to a packing machine in which thebottles-and this term will be used throughout the specification toinclude not only the glass containers usually meant by the term bottle,but also cans and other cylindrical containers, or articles, made ofvarious materials-are advanced in upright posi tion to form a chargewhich is transferred to appropriate packing mechanism, usuallycomprising directing mechanism which merely guides thebottles into thecase under the influence of gravity.' The machine automaticallyassembles successive charges, each of which is automatically transferredto the packing mechanism, and, in the embodiment of the invention chosenfor illustration, dropped through the packing mechanism into its case.The cases, or cartons, are placed in the machine by hand, and, afterreceiving a charge, are automatically ejected from the machine under thecontrolof the machine operator.

The primary object of our present invention is to-provide an improvedbottle packing apparatus of the type referred to which willautomatically pack bottles in cases at a high rate of speed, and whichis capable of operating con- 30 tinuously over long periods of timewithout substantial interruption of the line, or lines, of bottles fedto the packing machine.

The present invention has to do especially with packing machines forpacking bottles in cell cases, that is, in cases which are provided withpartitions forming individual cells or compartments for the bottles,although the apparatus of the invention can also be used to pack bottlesin cases which are not provided with such partitioning devices. Thebottles in the assembled charge are arranged in one or more parallelrows, the bottles of each row being in contact with one another.However, the partitions, usually of corrugated board, fibre board orwood-sometimes are as much as in. thick. Hence if the bottles weredelivered to the cases in contact with one another, the ends of thebottles would strikethe edges of the partitions. Another object of ourinvention is, therefore, to automatically space the bottles of each rowforming the charge so that they will properly enter their respectiveindividual compartments.

Furthermore, both the cartons and the partitioning devices areordinarily received by the user of the packing machine fin the fiat. The

operator of the machine unfolds both by hand and inserts a cellstructure in each carton before placing the carton on the receivingtable of the packing machine. These partitioning devices are a usuallymade of parallel strips of corrugated board some two or more inches Wideand slitted from opposite edges and fitted together so as to -form therequired number of square cells when placed in a carton. These stripsare flexible and in unfolding them from the flat the walls of some ofthe cells, particularly those adjacent the walls of the carton, willusually be bent to one side or the other from their correct position sothat they would be in the path of the descending bottles unlessstraightened before the bottles enter 1! the compartments. Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a particularly effective mechanismfor automatically straightening the walls of the individual compartmentsto receive the bottles.

Although glass bottles, such as are used as containers'for beverages,food products, chemicals, etc., are usually made by means of a moldingprocess, they nevertheless vary considerably in diameter. A commonarrangement of such bottles when packed in a case provides for "four'rows of six bottles each, and there is enough vari-- ation in diameterof these bottles to cause a possible variation of about an inch in thelength of a row of six bottles. This introduces a considerable problemin assembling the charge and properly placing the individual bottles intheir respective compartments without causing jamming of the bottles insuch a way that the machine has to be shut down and cleared by hand.Accordingly, another object of the invention is to provide a machinewhich is capable of handling the usual run of bottles of varyingdiameter without shut-down caused by the jamming of the bottles. 40

Bottle packing machines are customarily installed in a packing plant toreceive the bottles from a previous operation, such as labelling. Afurther feature of our invention is the provision of a packing machinewhich is adapted to receive bottles from one, or from two, or from anymultiple of two lines, and take the bottles in equal amounts from eachline so long as a surplus of bottles is presented by each line.

Our invention will be understood from a study of the accompanyingdrawings which fllustrate the invention, by way of example, as embodiedin a machine constructed for the purpose of packing glass bottles. Inthese drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the machine. The bot- J "W lltles enter at therear end, which is at the right; .the front of the machine where theoperator stands is at the left; I

Fig. 2 is a side elevation taken from the right hand side;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing the details of the constructionof the end of the machine at which the bottles enter;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3 viewed fromthe left hand side of the machine;

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 illustrates a detail and is a vertical longitudinal section takenon line 6-6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. '7 is an enlarged view of the charge-forming and packing mechanismand is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the broken line '|-'I ofFig. 9 looking in the direction of the arrows. The carton is shown indotted lines in the elevated position ready to receive a charge ofbottles;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged transverse vertical section taken on line 8-8 ofFig. '7. The carton is still elevated and the charge of bottles is aboutto be moved into position to drop into it;

Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the front end of the machine, which is atthe left in Figs. 1 and 2. The carton has received the charge of bottlesand been lowered into position to be ejected from the machine;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged side elevation of the charge-forming and packingmechanism taken from the left-hand side of the machine. A fresh cartonis shown in position to be elevated to receive the next charge ofbottles;

Fig. 11 is'a horizontal section taken on linel--ll of Fig. '7 to show inplan view the packing mechanism including the devices for directing theindividual bottles into their respective cells or compartments andsimultaneously straightening or positioning the partitioning devices.Certain parts are omitted for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 12 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on line l2-'-|2 of Fig.11 showing the bottle directing chutes and their fingers for directingthe individual bottles into their respective compartments andsimultaneously straightening or positioning the partitioning deviceswithin the carton;

Figs. 13 and 139, are enlarged and somewhat diagrammatic plan views of aportion of the packing mechanism of Fig. 11 illustrating the manner inwhich the bottle directing chutes accommodate rows of bottles ofdifferent lengths due to variation in bottle diameter, illustrating howthe guide plates of the charge-forming mechanism are alined verticallywith the bottlesupportin'g rails thereby causing the bottles to dropbetween the rails and engage the centralizing guides in so doing;

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary vertical transverse section, that is, a.section at right angles to that of Fig. 12;

Fig. 15 is an enlarged diagrammatic plan view similar to Figs. 13 and13a showing a single row of bottles all of which are somewhat larger indiameter than the average, thereby making a row of greater than averagelength;

Fig. 16 is an enlarged side elevation of a centralizing guide;

Fig. 17 is a view of the centralizing guide in section taken on linel'll'l of Fig. 16;

Fig. 18 is a horizontal section taken on line Iii-i8 of Fig. 12 showingthe details of the mounting of the centralizing guide;

Fig. 19 is a perspective view of a notched bracket plate for supportingthe edges of the centralizing guides;

Figs. 20 to 24, inclusive, illustrate a packing mechanism provided witha modified form of centralizing guides, these figures correspondingrespectively to Figs. 11 to 15, inclusive;

Fig. 25 is an enlarged view similar to Fig. 16 of the modifiedcentralizing guide and its mountins;

Fig. 26 is an enlarged side elevation of the centralizing guide shown inFig. 25;

Fig. 27 is a horizontal section taken on line 2'I--21 of Fig. 25 toassist in illustrating the manner of supporting and replacing one of themodified centralizing guides;

Fig. 28 is a fragmentary section taken on line 28-28 of Fig. 25 showingthe rounded sloping centralizing edge of the modified guide;

Fig. 29 is a plan view similar to Fig. 1 but showing a modified form ofthe apparatus for converging the two lines of bottles entering theapparatus;

Fig. 30 is a sectional view taken on line 3030 of Fig. 29;

Fig. 31 is a sectional view taken on line 3l-3l of Fig. 29;

Fig. 32 is a sectional view taken on line 32-32 of Fig. 29;

Fig. 33 is a side elevation of the left hand portion of the apparatus asshown in Fig. 2 with certain parts omitted and for the purpose of i1-lustrating a modification of certain details; and

Fig. 34 is a transverse vertical section similar to the lower part ofFig. 8 for the purpose of iilustrating a modified carton supportingtable.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, and first to Figs. 1 and 2,the bottles enter the machine standing upright in two lines, or rows, land 2, each row usually coming from a labelling machine. The two linesof bottles are received upon a wide belt 3 being maintained in line bysuitable guide rails 4, 5 and 6.

The two rows are combinedinto a single row 1 between guide rails 8 and 9by means of a bottle switching mechanism, indicated generally byreference numeral [0. A distributing mechanism indicated generally byreference numeral ll rearranges the single row of bottles into four rowsI2, each of these rows receiving an equal number of bottles.

The bottles are maintained in line in these rows by means of guide railsI3. They travel on the belt 3 through the switching device It), and thedividing mechanism H and are delivered by this belt to thecharge-assembling and packing mechanism indicated, as a whole, bynumeral M. The distance along belt 3 between the dividing mechanism IIand the apparatus l4 afiords a storage are for bottles arranged in rowsready to be delivered to the charge-assembling and packing mechanism, sothat a full charge will be available as often as the assemblingmechanism is ready to receive a fresh charge. The belt 3 slides beneaththe bottles'whenever it is necessary for the bottles to pause beforebeing admitted to the switching device In or the chargeassembling andpacking mechanism l4.

As shown in Fig. 1, the parts of the chargeassembling and packingmechanism H are in position ready to receive a charge of bottles, and assoon as each of the four rows receives its full complement of sixbottles each, and a carton [5 has been placed in the machine by theoperator and elevated to the position shown in Fig. 7 by originalposition, as shown in Figs. 2 and 9 and the carton moves by gravity tothe right, as

shown at Fig. 9 onto a roller conveying table H! "by. which the cartonis carried to the next opera- -tion, machine.

usually to an automatic carton closing Having thus briefly outlined theoperation of the machine, we will now proceed to a description of itsvarious parts in detail as to both their construction and operation.

The apparatus is driven by an electric motor I9 shown in Fig. 1 which isbelted to a reduction gearing 20, the slow speed shaft of which isprovided with two sprockets 2| and 22. The wide belt 3 previouslyreferred to is carried by a driving drum or roll 23 near the front end,and by a similar but smaller roll24 at the rear end of the machine.These supportingrolls are appropriately journaled in the machine framewhich comprises two side bars- 25 extending substantially from end toend of the machine, and four upright posts. The posts are tied togethernear their bases by longitudinal members 21. Belt 3 is drivencontinuously by means of roller 23 so long as the machine is inoperation. The shaft of roller 23 is provided with a sprocket 28 whichis connected with sprocket 22 on the reducing gearing shaft by means ofa chain.

The upper reach of wide belt 3 is maintained level by parallelsupporting bars 29, shown in section in Fig; 5, which extend between thebelt supporting rollers 24 and 23. At the rear end of the machineimmediately below roller 24, there is arranged an adjustable tensionroller 30 and an idle roller 3laround which the lower reach of belt 3passes, and by. means of appropriate adjusting screws 32 the tensionroll 30 can be adjusted so as to maintain the desired tension on thebelt.

- Referring now particularly to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, and the right handends of Figs. 1 and 2, there is here illustrated the switching mechanismI0 by means of which the bottle packing machine is enabled to receiveits supply of bottles from two as may be seen in Fig. 2 so that thelabels of the bottles will not be marred by contact with them. As thebottles are carried forward by the belt, they are received five at atime from each of rows I and 2 in a pair of simultaneously actuatedswitching channels 34 and 35 which are oscillated periodically, as willpresentlybe described, to deliver their respective groups of five canseach successively to form a single row which continues its advancebetween the rails 8 and 9.

The switching channels 34 and 3,5 are alike in construction, and eachcomprises a pair of vertical plates (36 and 31 for channel 34, and 38and 39 for channel 35) fixedly suspended from inverted U-shaped members40 and 4| respectively. These U-shaped members are fixed to the lowerends of vertical shafts 42 and 43 which are mounted for oscillation inlong bearing bosses 44 on a transverse supporting member 45 which ismounted upon the upper ends of posts 26,-

The switch channels 34 and 35 are oscillated by the following mechanismunderthe control of the cans advancing in lines I and 2. A cam shaft 46is journalled in the frame members 25 close to the two posts 26 at therear end of the machine. This shaft is driven by means of a chain 4'!and suitable sprockets from the shaft of roller 24. Keyed near theopposite ends of-shaft 46 is a pair of cams 48 and 49, the cam surfacesof which are arranged 180 apart so that when the cam shaft is rotatedthe switching channels 34 and 35 will be oscillated in unison in onedirection or the other by means of the levers and linkage shown in Figs.3, 4 and 5.

The connecting mechanism just referred to includes cam followers 50 and5| which are arranged on cam follower levers Hand 53 mounted at thelower ends of two vertical shafts 54 and 55. These shafts are pivoted asshown in Figs. 4 and 5 in suitable brackets 56 and 51 on the frame ofthe machine. The upper part of these shafts communicate their motion tothe switch channels 34 and 35, while the mechanism shown near the lowerportions of these shafts (and to the right, as viewed in Fig. 4) is thatby which the oscillation of the switch channels is controlled.

These two mechanisms are identical on the two opposite sides of themachine. That is to say, the mechanism for actuating switch channel 35by means of. cam 49 is, identical with that for actuating switchchannel. 34 by cam 48. Only one set of these mechanisms will bedescribed.

The mechanism adjacent the upper end of shaft 54 for communicating theoscillation of this shaft to the switch channel 34' comprises a shortlever 58 which is fixed to shaft 54, and a longer lever 59 which isloose on this shaft. A link 60 is pivoted to the outer end of this longlever and toinverted U member 40 of switch channel 34.

Shaft 54 is oscillated in one direction by means of the cam elevation 6|acting on cam follower 50, and in the opposite direction by means of ahelical spring 62 which is attached at one end to the frameof themachine and at the other end to an extension 63 of cam. follower lever52. ,The motion of short lever 58 is communicated to lever 59 in orderto oscillate the switch channel 34. In the direction of movement underthe actuation o-f'spring 62. this connection is a positive connection,whereas in the opposite direction of movement under the coaction of camelevation 6| and cam follower 50, it is a yielding con-- nection. Inthis way the switch channels 34 and 35 are yieldingly actuated in bothdirections so that should any jamming of bottles occur at the throat ofguide rails 8 and 9, no damage wouldoccur.

The connection between short lever 58 and long lever 59 includes a block64 which is pivoted at 65 to the outer end of short lever 58, and which,under normal conditions, engages a somewhat similar block 66 which isfixed to the lower surface of long lever 59. These two blocks are heldin engagement with one another by means of a helical spring 61 which ismounted upon a threaded rod 68, this rod being secured to the pivotedblock 64 and extending through a suitable aperture in block 66 and beingprovided at its outer end with a nut 69. This spring keeps the blocks incontact to provide the positive actuation in one direction and providesa yielding connection between the blocks in the opposite direction ofmovement."

A control mechanism near the bottom and to the right of vertical shaft54 as viewed in Fig. 4 controls the actuation of switch channel 34 bycam disc '48 by controlling the extension 63 of cam follower lever 52.Extension 83 is provided at its outer end with a latch block 18 adaptedto be engaged by the end of a latch lever 11 which is pivoted loosely ona vertical shaft 12 that is carried upon a bracket member 13 secured tothe machine frame. When in the position shown in the drawings, latch bar1| prevents the oscillation of switching channel 34 under the influenceof spring 62 when, due to rotation, the inner dwell 14 on cam 48 and camsurface 6| tend to permit cam follower 50 to move into engagement withthe outer dwell 15. On each revolution of cam 48, however, the innerdwell 14 contacts with cam follower 50 sufficiently to move the partsslightly so as to shift latch block 10 out of engagement with the end oflatch lever 1| for a purpose which will presently appear.

Latch bar TI is controlled by the bottles within the switch channel 34and for this purpose a control lever 16 is provided. This lever ispivoted on shaft 12 above latch bar 1|, and has at its inner end a thinadjustable bottle engaging stop plate 11 which is positioned close tothe end of guide rail 8 and is engaged by the center of the foremostbottle within switch channel 34. The pressure of the bottles within theswitch channel against ,the stop plate 11 under their friction with themoving belt 3 tends to cause control lever 18 to'be moved forwardagainst the tension of a spring 18 against an adjustable stop 19 mountedon brackets 13. When such movement of control lever 18 occurs, it placesunder tension a spring 88 which connects the tail portion 8i of thislever with the latch lever ll, one end of spring 88 being connected totail portion 81, and the opposite end to a pin 82 which extends upwardlyfrom lever H through a slot in tail portion 8|. Then upon the nextrotation of cam 48, when cam follower 50 rides up on inner dwell 14 andthereby shifts the parts sufficiently to cause latch block 19 to releaselatch lever 1|, this lever is actuated by the tension of spring 88 justreferred to, to the left, as viewed in Fig. 3 so as to bring the end oflatch lever 1| out of the path of latch block 19. Following this, assoon as the cam 48 has rotated 180, or, in other words, to the pointwhere the cam follower 58 commences to roll off from the inner dwell 14along cam surface'Bl toward the outer dwell 15, the vertical shaft 54 isthereby oscillated and thus causes the oscillation, or shifting, of theswitching channel 34 from the position shown in Fig. 3 to its oppositeposition whereby the five bottles therein are permitted to be advancedby belt 3 into the space between the guide rails 8 and 9.

As this motion of switching channel 34 takes place, it is to be notedthat the left-hand end of plate 31 swings into the path of the oncomingbottles in line I and prevents their advancement, while the right-handend of plate 36 moves into alinement with guide rail 8, thereby shiftingthe foremost bottle laterally out of engagement with the stop plate I1so as to allow the flve bot;- tles in the channel 34 to advance. Withthis same movement, switching channel 35 moves in the reverse directionand plate 38 of that switching channel, which has theretofore occupiedthe position shown in Fig. 3 wherein it holds back the bottles advancingin line 2, is now shifted into alinement with guide rail 5, therebypermitting bottles from line 2 to advance into channel 35. This movementalso brings the center of the forward, or right-hand, end of channel 35opposite the stop plate 111 of the control lever 16a, of the oscillationcontrol mechanism of switching channel 35.

It will be understood, by means of the mechanism just described, thebottles are delivered in groups of 5 taken alternately from the feedlines I and 2 into a single line which is formed between the guide rails8 and 9. This single line of bottles is advanced by the belt 3 to theredistributing mechanism, indicated generally by reference numeral IIand shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4. This mechanism comprises 3 deflectors 83,84 and of similar construction and actuated by the bottles so thatsuccessive bottles shift the deflectors to cause the bottle immediatelyfollowing to be diverted into a different path. Thus,

when the first bottle engages the deflector 83, it

will be directed into the channel 86, and as the bottle moves into thischannel, it will cause the deflector 83 to oscillate about its shaft 81and shift the point of the deflector onto the opposite side of thisshaft from that shown in Fig. 3, so that the next bottle following willbe diverted into the channel 88. Similarly deflectors 84 and 85 divertthe bottles approaching from channels 86 and 88, respectively, intochannels 89, 90, 9| and 92 formed between the guide rails 13.

Each of the deflectors 83, 84 and 85 is of particular construction inorder to properly operate upon bottles standing upright and beingadvanced by means of a belt such as belt 3. This construction isillustrated in Figs. 4 and 1.

A superstructure is built above belt 3 comprising two side members 93and 94 which are secured to the side bars 25 of the machine frame.Connecting the upper ends of these side members 93 is a horizontalplate, or casting 95. The de flectors 83, 84 and 85 are carried by thiscasting, and for this reason, three vertical extensions 98 projectdownwardly from the castin 95.

All three of the deflectors 83, 84 and 85 are alike, and consequentlyonly one will be described in detail. Deflector 83, forexample,comprises two narrow deflecting members 91 and 98 which are mounted upona vertical shaft 99. The deflecting members 91 and 98 are spaced aparton this shaft sufflciently to avoid contact with the labels on thebottles so as to avoid the possibility of their being damaged. Shaft 99extends downwardly through one of the projections 98 to a point close tothe surface of belt 3 in order to support deflector 98 below the labelposition.

It is important that the deflecting members 91 and 98 respond easily tothe pressure of the individual bottles to swing from one side to theother,

and yet the resistance to this swinging movement tends to be veryconsiderable because of the pressure which must be exerted by thedeflector against the bottles to slide. the bottles sidewise on the belt3, and because the shaft 99 must be suspended from a considerabledistance above the belt. The desired free movement of the deflectors isprovided by making shaft 99 extend well above the belt 3 and providing along bearing for this shaft in one of the projections 98. In this way,the tendency for the shaft 99 to bind due to the pressure of the bottlestransmitted to the lower end of the shaft is eliminated, and thedeflectors 9-! and 88 will swing easily to one side or the other.

' It will be. understood that the deflectors s1 and 98, indicatedgenerally by reference numerals 83,

84 and 85, are arranged to have only two stable positions. This isaccomplished by means of a light helical spring I at the top of each ofthe of a pair of adjustablestops I02;

The bottles are carried forward from the redistributing mechanism II bymeans'ofbelt 3 in the four lines 89, 90, 9| and 92' between the guiderails I3 to the charge-assembling and packing mechanism Id. The bottlesas they reach the end of belt 3 over driving roll 23 are received upon aseries of narrow supporting rails I03 (see Figs. 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12)which consist of thin metal plates mounted on edge in spaced parallelrelation between a pair of transverse supporting bars I 04 and I05. BarI04 is secured to extensions I09 of the side frame bars 25 which projectbeyond the two posts 28 near the front end of the machine. Theseextensions I06 support the entire charge-assembling and directingmechanism. Bar I is secured by collared bolts in spaced relation to across member I055 which is mounted on the outer ends of extensions I06.The ends of rails I03 are curved at I01 to bring their tips close to thesurface of belt 3 as it passes around roller 23, as shown in Figs. 7 and12 in order that r the bottles may slide smoothly from the belt ontothe' rails.

The guide rails I 3 terminate at a point vertical-. ly above thesupporting bar I00 at the entrance to the charge-assembling mechanism.Beyond this point the bottles pass between a series of parallel spacedguide plates or slides I08 of the charge-shifting frame indicatedgenerally by reference numeral I09 by means of which the bottles aresupported in upright position on the rails I03 and the alinement of thebottles is preserved. The height of guide plates I08 is preferablysomewhat greater than the height of the bottles, and the spacing of theguide plates is the same as the spacing of guide rails I3, the plateswhen in the charge-receiving position, as shown in Figs. 1, 7, 9 and 10,being in alinement with these guide rails.

The charge-shifting frame I09 comprises the guide plates or slides I08,2. pair of horizontal parallel rods which extend crosswise of the ma--chine and four upright-levers III. The plates I08 are suspended from thetwo cross rods II 0 by suitable hangers II2 by means of which the platesare carried in firmly fixed relation upon the rods The four levers IIIconnect with rods I I0, constituting a parallelogram linkage by means ofwhich the charge-shifting frame may be shifted laterally with respect tosupporting rails I03. From the position shown in Fig. 8 where the guideplates I08 are in alinement with guide rails I3 and the supporting railsI 03 are opposite the centers of the spaces between the guide plates I08, to the position shown in the fragmentary view in Fig. 14 in whichthe guide plates I08 are in alinement with rails I03 thereby causing thecharge of bottles to descend by gravity between rails I 03 into thecarton I5.

The rails I03 thus form between them a pinrality of chutes, each ofwhich is subdivided, as will be later described, to form directingchutes for the individual bottlesto direct them into their respectivecells. Each plate I08 at the left of a row of bottles, as viewed in Fig.8, acts as a slide, or pushento push'the row of bottles which has beentransported into the range of the pusher along one of the feeding railsI03, lateral- 1y of supporting rail to deliver it to the chute. Eachplate I08 at the right of a row of bottles acts to check the movement ofthe bottles therein as they are moved laterally by the adjacent plateI08 at the leftacting as a pusher.

The two levers III on the right-hand side of the machine are pivotedupon a horizontal shaft III which is carried in brackets H4 on themachine frame. levers III are fixed to a horizontal shaft H5 (see Fig.and the shifting of the shiftable frame 'I08 is accomplished by rockingthis shaft H5 as will presently be described. Shaft H5 is jour-'naled-near its right-hand end, as shown in Fig. i

10; in aboss H8 projecting from a bracket III which is bolted tothemachine frame at the and 7. At its left-hand end, as viewed in Fig. 10,shaft I I5 is journaled in a bracket I I8 also bolted to frame extensionI06. A collar H9 is fixed to .shaft 5 adjacent the I right-hand side ofthe bracket II8 to prevent the shaft from shifting longitudinally in onedirection. The parts, as

shown in Fig. 10 close to the left-hand side of which the operator ofthe machine raises and lowers the successive cartons to and from thecharge-receiving position shown in Fig. 7 will be described.

The operator first places in the carton about to be placed in thepacking machine a set of partitioning devices which divide the lowerpart of the carton into a plurality of square cells, pockets, orcompartments, each adapted to receive a single bottle. In the machinechosen for illustration the charge of bottles consists of four rows ofsix bottles each so that the partitioning device divides the carton into24 bottle compartments. 0 This partitioning device usually consists ofcrossed strips of corrugated board suitably slitted from opposite edgesto permit the assemblage of the strips, and reference numeral I20indicates the longitudinal strips (Fig. 8) of this partitioning device,while numeral I 2| indicates the cross strips (Fig. 12), eachbeingvshown in section. The operator places the thus prepared cartontemporarily on the shelf I22 with its end against a positioning bar I23which is adjustably supported, as shown in Figs. 7 and 10; At thepropertime the operator slides the carton by hand ofi from shelf I22 onto thecarton-supporting table I1. The position of the carton is' shown indotted lines in Figs. 9 and 10.

Supporting table I! is a roller table having a plurality of rollers I24mounted in a frame I25.

The side of the carton is positioned against a stop member I26 carriedon the supporting table On the left-hand side the two outer end ofextension I06, as shown in Figs. 10, 9

